Nicky Diaz Santillan, former housekeeper to California gubernatorial candidate and ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman, is accusing the candidate of firing her for being an illegal immigrant after looking the other way for nine years, TMZ reports.

According to Santillan's attorney, Gloria Allred, Whitman clearly knew about Santillan's status as an illegal from the beginning, but only took action when she became a political candidate.

Allred says that during her time with Whitman, Santillan was "exploited, disrespected, humiliated, and emotionally and financially abused," and that working for her was a "nightmare."

Whitman has dismissed the allegations, and says the timing, so close to the election, is proof that this is nothing but a cheap political smear.

UPDATE: You can read Allred's statement here. There are some allegations in there that should be very easy to check-on, specifically that the Social Security Administration Office was sending Whitman letters about Santillan's SSN not checking out for years. If true, that's a pretty obvious red flag to ignore.